BC-ME--Maine News Digest, ME

Thursday

Nov 15, 2012 at 2:15 PM

Maine at 2 p.m.

The breaking news staffer for Northern New England is Kathy McCormack in Concord, N.H., to be followed by Lisa Rathke in Montpelier, Vt., at 3 p.m. The breaking news staffer can be reached at 603-224-3327, then at 802-229-0577. The Maine correspondent is David Sharp in Portland. The Portland bureau can be reached at 800- 585-4656 or 207-772-4157.

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To reach the photo department, call 617-357-8106. AP stories, along with the photos that accompany them, can also be obtained from http://www.apexchange.com. Reruns also are available from customer support at 877-836-9477.

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NEW LAWMAKERS

AUGUSTA — A little over three decades ago, Tim Marks was an 18-year-old doorkeeper to the Maine Senate who ended up losing his job due to a change in party rule. Now's he's back — as the state representative-elect from Pittston. Marks, a Democrat, is among the dozens of newly elected, first-time elected legislators who gathered in the State House on Thursday for orientation. By Glenn Adams.

AP Photos MERB 101-105.

MAINE-GOP-VOTE INVESTIGATION

AUGUSTA — The outgoing chairman of the Maine Republican Party says he's looking into reports that "dozens of black people" unfamiliar to local elections officials showed up to vote in rural Maine towns on Nov. 6, but the allegations drew criticism from Democrats and skepticism from state elections officials.

MARIJUANA-STATES

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Lawmakers in Rhode Island and Maine are promising to push legislation to legalize marijuana in their states after voters in Colorado and Washington removed legal penalties for pot use. Rhode Island state Rep. Edith Ajello and Maine state Rep. Diane Russell say public support for marijuana legalization is growing. They say regulated sales of marijuana would eliminate the criminal black market while raising badly needed revenue for governments. Similar proposals are expected in Vermont and Massachusetts.

ALSO GETTING ATTENTION:

— TRAILER COMPANY-BONNER — An aluminum trailer manufacturer has signed a lease to move into a 70,000-square-foot facility at the old Stimson mill site in Bonner.

— CORINTH FATAL — Police have identified the victim in a head-on collision between a car and a heating oil truck as a 25-year-old South Berwick man.

— LEGALLY BLIND THIEF — A legally blind Rumford man who pleaded guilty to stealing $11,000 worth of items from a neighbor's home has avoided jail time, upsetting his victim.

— DOMESTIC DISBURBANCE-DEATH — Authorities have determined that a man found dead in a Bangor apartment by police responding to a domestic disturbance call killed himself.

— MAINE GOP-VOTE INVESTIGATION — The outgoing chairman of the Maine Republican Party says he's investigating reports that "dozens of black people" unfamiliar to local elections officials showed up to vote in rural Maine towns on Nov. 6.

— DEADLY CRASH-TOPSHAM — Police say a 79-year-old Brunswick woman has been killed in a two-vehicle crash in Topsham.

— MISSING HARVARD STUDENT — An autopsy showed that the Harvard University graduate student who fell into Portland Harbor and drowned in May just days before his graduation had a blood-alcohol level nearly three times the legal limit to drive in Maine.

— MARIJUANA-STATES — A marijuana advocacy group hopes to build on momentum from ballot votes in Colorado and Washington with new efforts to remove criminal penalties for marijuana use. Two state representatives from Maine and Rhode Island are joining the Marijuana Policy Project on a teleconference Thursday to discuss bills that are being introduced in their states.

— STUDENT ELECTION — Barack Obama and Angus King were among the winners in a mock election that tallied votes from more than 40,000 students across Maine.

— WOODWARD-USM — Investigative journalist Bob Woodward is speaking in Maine about the successes and failures of U.S. presidents from Nixon to Obama.